The government of China had enforced a one-child policy to due to overpopulation years ago, which led to difficulties in allocating resources such as food and land to the people. According to an article from ABC news, however, China currently allows couples to have 2 children if one of the parents is an only child.

Although I don’t believe China should’ve limited people from having big families, I learned that if you don’t react to the changes in the environment, you can sink. China finally noticed that the country is growing, and in order for it to become more prosperous, more citizens are needed. The government, therefore, finally decided to alter their one-child policy by allowing only-child parents in having one more baby.

Sorry chocolate lovers! The price of chocolate is expected to triple by Christmas due to an increase in the price of their raw materials. With a 70% rise in the price of cocoa butter, 50%  in the price of milk powder, and 15% to whey powder, the cost of producing chocolate has soared by 33%.

The reason to this sudden increase is due to a combination of bad weather and increased demand for the cocoa butter. As a result, people forecast a lower supply, therefore, higher demand for this raw material.

As a fan of chocolates myself, I do not believe it is worth it to buy a snack that will triple its price. Candy stores should devise of a strategy to lure customers in continuing to purchase the sweet glory. Owners should also research on the current inventory turnover ratio of chocolates in their stores, and consider stocking up on the snack, since chocolates do not expire quickly anyways. By purchasing more chocolates to save up and sell in the future, owners avoid the chance to pay triple the price for their chocolates later.

Reputation is hard to build up, but easy to break down. WestJet employees have recently shown their unprofessionalism when they lost two cats while loading them on the plane in Vancouver. The two cats were adopted from the Squamish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals only half a year ago, and due to their past with abusive owners, have yet to open up and approach humans. With the cats’ unsociable personalities, WestJet had a tough time trying to find them. According to the owner of the cats, Kelli Seepaul, WestJet was not “…doing enough. Their priority isn’t to find [her] cats but it’s to do other things…”

As a service business, employees are required to put their customers as first priority. On the WestJet website, they even stated that one of their values was “commitment to safety.” Ironically, WestJet is not meetings the expectations from their customers. Although some could defend the company and say that the loss of the cats was simply a mistake, employees should have dealt with the situation with more professionalism. From trying to keep the media from knowing about this story to frantically trying to find two unapproachable cats, WestJet has failed even their own expectations.

As winter is inching closer and closer, warm and cozy clothes seem to be becoming the trend in both male and females. As a teenage girl, I admit that I have a few Uggs boots stored in my garage begging to be worn since last winter.

Since my first pair of Uggs 5 years ago, I have noticed that fewer people continue to wear the sheepskin goodness every year. According to the information from an article describing the unpopular demand for this company, Uggs has been losing its popularity and has dropped 31% in profit by 2012. In a desperate way to win back some consumers, Uggs has now expanded their target market to brides as well! Expectedly, this crazy idea has not gained a lot of support. Some have even voiced on Twitter with hilarious comments such as ,

“Bridal uggs should be illegal. Unless you are getting married in the north pole and your maid of honor is a penguin…”

Uggs’ attempt to revive their company has been a fail, as no bride in the right mind would choose to wear Uggs, no matter how beautiful, instead of classy and elegant heels. This huge risk taken in the business choice has obviously shown no accurate forecast of the results, as the risk of starting this line is greatly uncertain.

There’s been loads of anticipation for the new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, but is this phone really worth it? Even though this article by CBC News reveals that the new iOS provides consumers with new features, I don’t believe the changes are enough.

Ranging from Samsung to Blackberry to HTC, Apple has a lot of competitors. Instead of constantly making tiny adjustments in every new iOS and phone, Apple might as well carefully plan their updates in order for them not to lose support from their consumers.

As an iPhone user looking forward to changing her phone to one of another company’s, I believe that Apple is smoothly pulling in their consumer demographic by slowly releasing new features. Not only does this tactic waste the consumers’ money and time, but in the company’s point of view, it also gives Apple a bad reputation of being greedy. This plan, however, has proved to be successful in earning consumers’ support, and even though it is working now, I don’t know how much longer Apple can con their targets anymore.